


Burn

by simonsrosebud



Category: One Direction
Genre: Death, Demon Deals, Demons, Depression, Fire, Hades - Freeform, Harry sold his soul, Hellhounds, Love, M/M, Satan - Freeform, Someone dies, Thanatos - Freeform, Underworld, Yikes, but so does louis bc he's trying his best he's just a lil clueless ab humans, god of the underworld, harry deserves the best in this, king of the dead, suicidal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-16
Updated: 2018-05-16
Packaged: 2019-05-07 23:56:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,187
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14682171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/simonsrosebud/pseuds/simonsrosebud
Summary: “Harry, do you remember the ritual you did?”Uncertainty crossed the boy’s face, but after darting his eyes around the grand room and taking in the view of hell through the windows, all the color drained from his face. “You’re not…”A wide grin spread on Louis’ lips. And while he took great pride in his home, Harry only showed a look of true terror.“Welcome to hell.”





	Burn

**Author's Note:**

> alright bitches i wrote this for a short story for my class it could only be 10 pages long aka i thought i was gonna die bc that SHORT !!1!1!!!! i'll probably come back and fix it up and make it longer bc this is the 10 page version. enjoy!!!

There was really no reason for Louis to be making his own trips anymore. Especially not with demons that had correctly been doing their jobs for a millennia by then. They practically lived on making deals with humans for their soul, or collecting souls sold to hell for nothing in return just so that the person could die already.

It was all dirty work. At least to Louis, being the god he was. And yet still he couldn't help but hop in and make a deal for himself every once in a while. For entertainment purposes. It wasn't every day a human got a face to face meeting with Satan himself.

So, when a coal tumbled from Louis' fireplace instead of the pit that the demons grabbed assignments from, he truly was surprised. No one in  _ years _ had thought to sell themselves right to him. The typical occurrence was for a human to sell their soul to a demon or to hell in general, both which were free game for any demon to take.

Louis’ hellhound rolled the small piece of coal over to it's master's feet with his nose. It was only a tiny little rock, smaller than others. Less of a soul to it. Louis squeezed it in his fist and watched the crushed ash ignite up into a flame.

**Harry Styles**

**Twenty-Four years old**

**Holmes Chapel, Cheshire**

**Twenty minutes left.**

He read the words as they flickered in the air. The soft glow of orange illuminated his skin but left the crevices of his face shadowed and dark. He looked to the side. Clifford, his bony hellhound sat beside his throne. A singed tail and small flames popping up on it's back made it look more vicious than assumed.

He got a pull on his leg before he could move, "Clifford- stop," he shook off the dog and stepped through the portal.

The boy's room, Harry's, was small, and dark. Pictures littered the wall, from when he was younger all the way to the present. Old friends, his sister, family. Louis let his fingers graze over the frames, closing his eyes and reliving young memories of Harry and the people in the pictures. Soaking up his life all the way up until things headed south.

**_Harry sat, crying- no, sobbing in the bathroom. Hand over his mouth while tears blurred his vision. His free hand laid limp in his lap as he tried stopping the blood from slowly oozing out of the small cuts._ **

Louis pulled back. He shouldn't of been doing it. Snooping through someone's life like that. He normally  _ didn't _ . He just couldn't help himself. He hadn't had someone younger than forty-six sell their soul right to him in fifty two years. Of course his curiosity tended to get the best of him. He didn't understand how such a young human could want to give himself up so easily.

**_“You hear me?" he pushed a finger into his chest. Harry whimpered. "Tell a soul and you're dead," the boy threatened, knocking his friend's elbow and getting out of sight._ **

**_And_** **_Harry couldn’t  move. Physically, he could. But if he got up. If he moved, everything was going to break. Every bone in his body. Every nerve and every ounce of fear would make itself present. He'd die. Or at least it felt that way._**

Louis took a step back towards the middle of the room. The whole space was buried in some unfortunate memory. “My god, you humans are treacherous to each other,” he pushed his way to the bathroom. Harry was sat in the bathtub fully clothed. He had his head underwater. “If you’re going to sell your soul then you’ve got to be alive when I get here,” he placed his hands on his hips, and after a second and an exaggerated breath he hauled the boy out of the tub. His eyes blinked open and he gasped before going into a coughing fit while he tried to blindly swat his hands at Louis.

“No!” Harry squeezed his eyes shut and fought against Louis’ hold on his wrists. “I don’t wanna be here anymore!” he kicked his leg out, nearly hitting Louis in the groin.

Louis groaned and knocked him out with the snap of his fingers, “I’m gonna pretend you didn’t do that.”

 

* * *

  
  


“You know you’re not supposed to mess with human deaths, Hades-”

“Dear god, can I go  _ one _ second without hearing from you?” Louis turned and slumped down onto his throne. “I’m also not supposed to kill off my demons, but sometimes they’re just bloody annoying,” he kicked his feet up over the arm of the chair.

“You’ve been fancying the slang of the English?”

“I have an English accent you twat. I- You  _ do _ know I hate you, right?”

He ignored Louis, “And fancy the men this time around? I see? You’ve always been more for the males. Tell me about dear Harry, here,” Thanatos looked down the hallway like he knew where the boy was resting.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Louis rolled his eyes. “ _ He _ sold his soul to  _ me _ . I can do what I want with it, so I’ve decided to put him in charge of a few things so that I don’t have to do it myself.”

Thanatos shook his head, “You are unbelievable. That boy’s fate was drowning in the tub like he almost had done until you interrupted-”

“I didn’t interrupt! He sold it to me first! I can’t take his soul if he’s  _ dead _ already.”

A clatter of metal banged against the floor. Both gods turned to face the noise, but only found Harry scrambling to rehang what had fallen. “Harry. Good to see you doing well,” Thanatos nodded at the boy.

Harry, wide eyed and confused, dropped the metal artifact again, “I’m- I’m sorry… um, who are you?”

Louis cut in, “Thanatos. No one important. Technically God of Death, but he’s annoying and tries stealing my job so he’s no one,” he whistled over one of his hellhounds to escort the god out. “Don’t come back soon, please,” he waved him off. “And don’t stray from Yvette on your way out! She’ll willingly bite your leg off!”

Harry didn’t move from where he stood from the second he entered the room. When Louis turned his body to face him in his throne Harry stumbled back. “Don’t hurt me, please,” he held up his hands in front of his face in defence.

It hadn’t occurred to Louis that the boy would be utterly confused as to where he was or what was happening. The last thing he probably remembered even was hitting some man who pulled him out of his own bathtub. It also hadn’t occurred to him that not everyone would be  _ accepting _ of the fact that they were living in hell not dead or as a demon but as a normal, living person.

“Harry, do you remember the ritual you did?”

Uncertainty crossed the boy’s face, but after darting his eyes around the grand room and taking in the view of hell through the windows, all the color drained from his face. “You’re not…”

A wide grin spread on Louis’ lips. And while he took great pride in his home, Harry only showed a look of true terror.

“Welcome to hell.”

 

* * *

  
  


He wasn’t used to having anyone but himself staying in the mansion, so when there was a scream heard from down the hall it sent him right out of bed. He passed a demon in the hall. “The human is awake-”

“Shut up,” he turned her to ash with a flick of his hand. “S’too early.”

The door to Harry’s room was already open, but the boy couldn’t be seen amongst the two hellhounds up on the giant bed. Louis whistled to get their attention, “Get out!” they jumped off in an instant. He rubbed his face and squinted his eyes in the darkness. “Sorry ‘bout them,” he glanced at the clock. “Harry? Are you alright? It’s the ass crack of dawn, I’d like to go back to bed if you don’t mind.”

The closet opening took Louis by surprise. Harry peaked his head out, and after looking around he stepped out fully. “No, I’m  _ not _ okay!” he nearly tripped in the darkness of the room but caught himself on the bed. “They-They jumped up on my bed- on  _ fire- _ and-and-”

“They’re actually quite cuddly. Harmless unless I tell them to do something.”

“That’s not- you’re not helping,” he ran his fingers through his hair and tugged on the ends. “I’m- I can’t, this is… I’m gonna,” he sat down shakily. “I’m gonna have a panic attack,” he squeezed his eyes shut.

Human life was certainly something he wasn’t too knowledgeable about. He didn’t go up to earth often. But then again he barely liked going up to Olympus either. Everyone was too up tight there. “What do I do? I can send something to fight it off.”

Harry pulled his knees to his chest and let his head drop back against the headboard. He let out a long breath, “Sit with me and just talk… please.”

“Talk? If something’s attacking that’s not going to do any-”

“It’s not an attack, Louis! It’s all in my head and I can’t  _ help _ it but I’m going to start freaking out real fast soon because I’m all alone in-in hell with so called Satan himself and his fucking _ fire dogs _ and-”

“Alright, bloody hell, I’ll talk. M’not very calming though-”

“Yes you are,” his voice was muffled by the sleeve of his sweatshirt. “You’re not as scary as you think,” Louis narrowed his eyes at that. “Can you sit with, um, next to me.”

He still wasn’t catching onto the concept of the panic attack, but gave in and crawled to the head of the bed. He stifled a laugh when Harry moved closer and nervously tucked himself under Louis’ arm. “This makes you feel uh, not panicked? Close contact?”

“Shut up, it’s embarrassing. Everyone has different things,” he huffed and crossed his arms.

“It’s cute.” Harry elbowed him lightly. “Talking, right. Um, you can call me Louis, from now on. I’m not keen on the mythological names- not that we’re myths. Obviously I’m real-  _ and _ more handsome than humans imagine,” he looked down at Harry.. “My parents were Cronus and Rhea. And I have six siblings, all of which are the most irritating gods I’ve ever known. And I’ve been around a  _ long _ time,” a yawn interrupted his words.

Harry hesitated when he pulled the blanket up to his chin. He was still taking semi-steady breaths. “You don’t look old, being a god and all.”

“That’s because I can be however old you need me to be,” a devilish smirk took over his face, and if the redness in Harry’s cheeks was anything to take in, Louis counted that as a win. “Currently thirty, though. Not much older than you.”

“Physically. Mentally you’re like a million years old.”

He held his chest, “What a jab. If only I was offended.”

Harry rolled his eyes, but the smallest bit of a smile could be seen from the corner of his lips. “Just keep talking, you idiot.”

 

* * *

  
  


Harry was a talker. A big one, at that. Not all the time, and not always in a good way. After nearly three months spent in hell he warmed up to the fact that no matter how much he talked back to Louis or teased him, no consequence came to him like it did to any of the demons. Not that the god enjoyed being sassed, but Harry seemed to be the exception.

“What’s wrong?” Louis hopped onto Harry’s bed and spread his limbs out. “How come you’re still sad?”

Harry snickered and shook his head, “Nothing,” but when Louis gave him a quizzical look he tucked himself away in the bed. The god crawled up next to him and tugged the blanket off. “Stop!”

“Then tell me what’s wrong! Harry, believe it or not I  _ do _ want you to be content living here. I had fifteen demons working on fixing this place up for you while you came out of unconsciousness- for a solid three days, might I add-”

“Well, you wouldn’t of had to do that if you hadn’t brought me here,” he huffed.

Louis sat up to look at him, “You were sad-”

“I’m  _ still _ sad! I have depression, not the common cold! I’m suicidal! Why do you think you found me in a fucking bathtub!” his outburst surprised Louis. He watched with perplexity while Harry stormed off out of the room. And although he probably shouldn’t have, but he followed him anyway.

“I gave a human a  _ job _ . In  _ hell _ . I’ve had demons here for a millenia that would do anything to be in your position and I gave it to a human that I didn’t even know-”

“Why?! Huh? I don’t have a job and you know it. I don’t do  _ shit _ around here! So why take in a measly depressed person like me to live with you?” he pointed a finger at Louis’ chest. “For your entertainment? So that you’re not alone?” he was so furious that it baffled Louis.

“Because you’re worth keeping alive,” he kept his voice low in fear of getting riled up, but it came out like an irritated growl. He couldn’t even look at Harry. He felt like he was in some dramatic human television show.

Harry pulled on his hair, then ran his hands down his face, “No, I’m not! You just think that because you  _ fell _ for me after bringing me here!”

“Don’t put this on-”

“I wanted to  _ die _ , Louis! My life was miserable and I was suffering for so  _ long _ !" his voice cracked. He looked up at the ceiling to try to keep the tears in his body. "I wanted to be done with it all! That was  _ my _ choice! And  _ you _ took that away from me!” his face was scrunched up in attempting not to cry. If Louis knew he was trying not to, then he wouldn’t have exploded on him, but he couldn’t help himself.

Louis spun around. His eyes were lit up with fire and an anger that made Harry take a step back. "You wouldn't have died!" he screamed. "You didn't die, Harry, you sold your bloody soul right to Satan himself! You’d  _ rot _ like any other demon here! You deserve to be saved- I  _ saved _ you from that!” he balled his fists, biting the inside of his cheek and trying to cool himself down.

A slap across his face left a stinging burn. He couldn't comprehend if it actually happened or not until Harry was drawing back. "I didn't  _ ask _ you to save me," he stumbled as Louis began cornering him.

“Did you just hit me?” he could feel the slow painless burn of fire crawling up his neck as he brought his hand up. Except once he realized what he was doing he dropped it just as quick. The look on Harry’s face made him trip on his feet as he backed away. “I’m… I’m sorry,” he turned to walk away, dodging Harry every time he reached for his arm.

“Louis,” he grabbed his hand. “It’s- It’s fine. Stop freaking out, I hit you first anyway,” Louis kept walking despite the human gripping his hand.

“If I hit you out of anger I could of killed you,” the warm air hit them as they walked outside. Louis never got hot or cold, but for once the itchy heat didn’t register to Harry in the moment. Even with the ash and perpetual fire coating almost anything and everything, he didn’t look beyond his sight of Louis. “If I… If I did that to you,” he struggled on his words. “You know how I feel about you, Harry.”

“I know,” it came out as a whisper. He squeezed on Louis’ hand. “M’sorry for getting mad.”

Louis shook his head, “No, it’s not your fault,” he let Harry drop his head against his shoulder. A long silence fell over the two and left them with the calming sound of crackling fire from a distance.

Harry almost flinched in surprise when Louis’ voice cut through the stillness, “Give me a week,” he whipped his head up.

“What?”

The god looked out over the fence. A pack of hellhounds ran around wildly, and demons roamed the grounds. “When a human makes a deal with me or a demon, they get their wish in return for their life in a certain amount of time,” he took a deep breath. “I… I can put a countdown on your life. If you still  _ truly _ want to go in a week, no questions asked, you’ll go in your sleep. But if it reaches that week mark and deep down you want to stay, then nothing will happen and you’ll wake up.”

The flames were lighting up Harry’s face, revealing the expression he held. It wasn’t the heart wrenching look on his face that almost made Louis break. Or the way that Harry’s hand held tighter to his own once he spoke the words. Not the memories and small moments from the past three months, nor the thought of losing what showed him the feelings he hadn’t known he of all people could feel.

But when he saw the hope in Harry’s eyes he wanted to crumble. The slight nod of his head, barely enough movement to notice it. He leaned into Louis’ side a bit, and when he answered Louis could barely hear it over the ringing in his ears. “I’d like that, please.”

Louis looked up and took a shaky breath, “Yeah… okay,” he dropped Harry’s hand and lead himself inside. The hellhounds came to his side instantly, and didn’t move away like normal when Harry tried getting in between them and Louis.

Louis kept balling his fists and shaking his fingers at his side, and when he got up to his throne he grabbed his staff, “You’re going to want to stay,” he pointed the thing at Harry. “I’m going to do whatever I can. I  _ can _ help you be happier here,” his frustrations flowed through him and into the power of the staff, lighting a fire out of the top on instinct.

Harry was used to the fire and possible burns he could have gotten simply from touching Louis when he was in a mood. He didn’t care. He climbed up the few stairs to where the god stood and went on his tiptoes to pull him down into a hug. “I’ll always be here.”

 

* * *

 

The nights were cool, but the mornings were always warm from the fires building up again in the new day. Hellhounds howled in the distance like normal, almost like hell’s version of birds chirping in the early morning.

Louis never got hot or cold. But a week later when his hellhound whimpered at the side of Harry’s empty bed, all he felt were chills.

_ I’ll always be here. _

_ -H _


End file.
